1. Of or pertaining to a velum; esp. (Anat.) of or pertaining to the
soft palate.
2. (Phon.) Having the place of articulation on the soft palate;
guttural; as, the velar consonants, such as k and hard q.
||Ve*la"ri*um (?), n.; pl. Velaria (#). [L., a covering.] (Zoöl.) The
||marginal membrane of certain medusæ belonging to the Discophora.
||
Ve"late (?), a. [L. velatus, p. p. of velare to veil. See Veil.] (Bot.)
Having a veil; veiled.
Vele (?), n. A veil. [Obs.] Spenser.
||Ve*lel"la (?), n. [NL., dim. from L. velum a veil, a sail.] (Zoöl.)
||Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella.
||
These creatures are brilliantly colored and float at the surface of the
sea. They have an oblong, disklike body, supported by a thin chitinous
plate, from which rises a thin diagonal crest which acts as a sail. The
feeding and reproductive zooids hang down from the under side of the
disk.
Ve*lif"er*ous (?), a. [L. velifer; velum a sail + ferre to bear.]
Carrying or bearing sails. [Obs.] "Veliferous chariots." Evelyn.
<! p. 1599 !>
||Vel"i*ger (?), n. [NL., fr. L. velum a veil + gerere bear.] (Zoöl.)
||Any larval gastropod or bivalve mollusk in the state when it is
||furnished with one or two ciliated membranes for swimming.
||
Vel`i*ta"tion (?), n. [L. velitatio, fr. velitari, velitatus, to
skirmish, from veles, - itis, a light-armed soldier.] A dispute or
contest; a slight contest; a skirmish. [R.] Sir M. Hale.
After a short velitation we parted.
Evelyn.
Ve*liv"o*lant (?), a. [L. velivolans; velum a sail + volare to fly.]
Flying with sails; passing under full sail. [R.]
Vell (?), n. [Cf. L. vellus the skin of a sheep with the wool on it, a
fleece, a hide or pelt, or E. fell a hide.] The salted stomach of a
calf, used in making cheese; a rennet bag. [Prov. Eng.]
Vell, v. i. [Cf. Vell, n.] To cut the turf from, as for burning. [Prov.
Eng.] Halliwell.
Vel*le"i*ty (?), n. [F. velléité (cf. It. velleità), fr. L. velle to
will, to be willing.] The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or
incomplete volition. Locke.
Vel"let (?), n. Velvet. [Obs.] Spenser.
Vel"li*cate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vellicated (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Vellicating.] [L. vellicatus, p. p. of vellicare to twitch, fr. vellere
to pluck, pull.] To twitch; to cause to twitch convulsively.
Convulsions, arising from something vellicating a nerve in its
extremity, are not very dangerous.
Arbuthnot.
Vel"li*cate, v. i. To move spasmodically; to twitch; as, a nerve
vellicates.
Vel`li*ca"tion (?), [L. vellicatio.] 1. The act of twitching, or of
causing to twitch.
2. (Med.) A local twitching, or convulsive motion, of a muscular fiber,
especially of the face.
Vel"li*ca*tive (?), a. Having the power of vellicating, plucking, or
twitching; causing vellication.
||Vel*lon" (?), n. [Sp.] A word occurring in the phrase real vellon.
||See the Note under Its Real.
||
Vel"lum (?), n. [OE. velim, F. vélin, fr. L. vitulinus of a calf, fr.
vitulus a calf. See Veal.] A fine kind of parchment, usually made from
calfskin, and rendered clear and white, — used as for writing upon, and
for binding books.
Vellum cloth, a fine kind of cotton fabric, made very transparent, and
used as a tracing cloth.
Vel"lum*y (?), a. Resembling vellum.
Vel`o*cim"e*ter (?), n. [L. velox, -ocis, rapid + -meter.] An apparatus
for measuring speed, as of machinery or vessels, but especially of
projectiles.
Ve*loc"i*pede (?), n. [L. velox, - ocis, swift + pes, pedis, a foot.
See Velocity, and Foot.] A light road carriage propelled by the feet of
the rider. Originally it was propelled by striking the tips of the toes
on the roadway, but commonly now by the action of the feet on a pedal
or pedals connected with the axle of one or more of the wheels, and
causing their revolution. They are made in many forms, with two, three,
or four wheels. See Bicycle, and Tricycle.
Ve*loc"i*pe`dist (?), n. One who rides on a velocipede.
Ve*loc"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Velocities (#). [L. velocitas, from velox,
-ocis, swift, quick; perhaps akin to v&?;lare to fly (see Volatile):
cf. F. vélocité.]
1. Quickness of motion; swiftness; speed; celerity; rapidity; as, the
velocity of wind; the velocity of a planet or comet in its orbit or
course; the velocity of a cannon ball; the velocity of light.
In such phrases, velocity is more generally used than celerity. We
apply celerity to animals; as, a horse or an ostrich runs with
celerity; but bodies moving in the air or in ethereal space move with
greater or less velocity, not celerity. This usage is arbitrary, and
perhaps not universal.
2. (Mech.) Rate of motion; the relation of motion to time, measured by
the number of units of space passed over by a moving body or point in a
unit of time, usually the number of feet passed over in a second. See
the Note under Speed.
Angular velocity. See under Angular. - - Initial velocity, the velocity
of a moving body at starting; especially, the velocity of a projectile
as it leaves the mouth of a firearm from which it is discharged. —
Relative velocity, the velocity with which a body approaches or recedes
from another body, whether both are moving or only one. — Uniform
velocity, velocity in which the same number of units of space are
described in each successive unit of time. — Variable velocity,
velocity in which the space described varies from instant, either
increasing or decreasing; — in the former case called accelerated
velocity, in the latter, retarded velocity; the acceleration or
retardation itself being also either uniform or variable. — Virtual
velocity. See under Virtual.
In variable velocity, the velocity, strictly, at any given instant, is
the rate of motion at that instant, and is expressed by the units of
space, which, if the velocity at that instant were continued uniform
during a unit of time, would be described in the unit of time; thus,
the velocity of a falling body at a given instant is the number of feet
which, if the motion which the body has at that instant were continued
uniformly for one second, it would pass through in the second. The
scientific sense of velocity differs from the popular sense in being
applied to all rates of motion, however slow, while the latter implies
more or less rapidity or quickness of motion.
Syn. — Swiftness; celerity; rapidity; fleetness; speed.
Ve*lours" (?), n. [F. See Velure.] One of many textile fabrics having a
pile like that of velvet.